Prome Problem
by elixb
Summary: Something happens at prome. Something which pushes Beck over the edge and might expose his darkest secret. Without Jade to keep him in control, it's up to Cat to stop him before things escalate and end in tragedy. Bade with Cade/Bat friendship. Features protective Beck and Cat and hurt Jade.


**A/N so admittedly I jumped on the victorious bandwagon a little late (OK a lot late) but I've had this idea sitting around for some time and decided to just write it. I'm not even sure if people still read these fics, but if you do please let me know by reviewing. :)**

...

It was 11.03pm and the Oliver family car was just pulling into the driveway. Gravel crunched beneath the wheels as the fairly new station wagon pulled to a stop by the big suburban house. The classic picket fence and pruned flower beds added to the sophisticated feel of the homey white house lined with a blue trim. The only thing out of place was the large silver RV parked a small ways away from the garage door.

It was the RV where the Oliver boy went, his bags slung over his shoulder as he fiddled with his keys. His mom and dad waved him goodnight as they went into the house, trusting their son to sort out his own laundry.

As he moved to jiggle the key in the lock, the door swung open towards him. He frowned, clearly remembering locking it. His confusion cleared as he entered the vehicle and spotted the familiar head of hair curled next to his bed. He chuckled and ran a hand through his hair, dumping his bags and moving to greet her with a kiss.

She didn't move.

His frown was back as he pulled the door shut and crouched down in front of her. He noticed the dark dress and recalled her angry ranting about Tori's prom. He'd sympathised with her and told her what she needed to hear, although he did caution against extreme revenge. She'd sounded pleased when she hung up and he'd been looking forward to hearing about the evening. His frown deepened when he remembered that the Prom had been on Saturday yet she was still in her dress.

He reached out to tap her gently but gasped when he felt the coolness of her skin. It was then that others details made themselves clear to him, her chipped nails, blue lips and shallow breathing causing panic to shoot through him.

"Jade? Jade wake up baby, wake up!" He rubbed her arms vigorously, trying to get the blood circulating. He stripped off his flannel and hastily wrapped it around her shoulders, lifting her gently to try and get her onto the bed. Unfortunately as he did so the dress slipped over her waist and pooled on the floor, the zipper having been destroyed. Beck pushed away the detail, not wanting to dwell on what it could mean. Instead he called for his parents, pulling a pair of his old sweats over her legs and buttoning the shirt for her modesty.

Her head lolled against his shoulder as his hand found its way to her neck and felt for the faint jumping of her pulse. It was there, but only just. He scooped her up bridal style and kicked open the door, startling his parents on the other side.

Their mouths dropped at the sight of Beck's girlfriend, paler than normal and in a state of worrying unconsciousness. His father hurried to the car and fired up the engine whilst his mother helped him into the backseat, wrapping a blanket from the trunk around the freezing girl.

The ride to the hospital was full of questions Beck was unable to answer. All he knew was that his girl was in trouble and by the looks of it, had been attacked. His mind wandered dangerously as he thought about what could have happened.

...

Although it was nearing midnight the ER was still busy. However, one look at the limp form in Beck's arms and nurses were running over with a gurney and hurrying her through the doors. Beck ran with them, struggling to keep up with the well practised professionals. He was stopped by a woman with a clipboard. Her dark skin contrasting to the blue scrubs as she pulled him aside and fired off question after question.

Beck answered in a haze. Things like her name (Jade West), her emergency contact (him), and her legal guardian. That gave him pause, her dad was out of town and her mom was pretty much nonexistent in her life. So instead he gave them Mrs Valentine's number.

The doctor thanked him before asking one last question, the real kicker; what happened?

He didn't know. He didn't know and it killed him. Instead he told them how he'd found her. He paused at the mention of the dress and zipper but the doctor's reassuring smile forced him to voice his worries out loud. She nodded along and told him gently to go back into the waiting room, they'd call him if there was any news. She also suggested getting the police involved but he refused. That was Jade's decision to make, not his.

...

At 1.06am Mrs Valentine rushed into the waiting room, a sobbing girl practically hanging from her arm. Beck was pulled from his sleepy stupor as the small red head detached herself from her mother in favour of launching herself at him. He caught the little ball of tears and welcomed her hug.

"Beck, where's Jadey? Is she gonna be ok?"

"I don't know Cat. The doctor will be here soon." Some people were shooting them sympathetic looks but most were disgruntled by Cat's crying. "Hey Cat, Cat look at me." He got the girl's attention. "You know what'll make Jade better?"

"What?"

"Coffee. There's a machine right down the hall, take some money and you can get Jade a cup of coffee for when she wakes up yeah?" He gave her a handful of change from his pocket and watched as she nodded solemnly before running off down the corridor.

Mrs Valentine sat next to him. "Where are your parents Beck?"

"I convinced them to go home." The older lady nodded. She was wearing a large coat thrown over her nightie and her feet were shoved into a pair of sandals.

They sat in silence, watching people come and go. Cat joined them with a hot chocolate, her excuse being that chocolate made people happier than coffee did. Beck just nodded and let her fall asleep against his shoulder.

At 2:34am a nurse in blue scrubs called out for the family of Jade West. Mrs Valentine waved her over whilst Beck gently shook Cat awake. The nurse looked sceptical but informed them that Jade was ok. "It's lucky you got her here in time son, she could've been a lot worse."

"Can we see her?"

"Of course, but she'll be sleeping. We've given her an IV to make sure she gets her nutrients but we've also given her strong sleeping medication. She'll be out until tomorrow morning. Hopefully we can have her discharge papers ready by the afternoon." Beck felt relief washing over him and Cat squeezed his hand excitedly.

They followed the nurse down the halls until the got to her room. Just before they went in the nurse cautioned them about the state she was in. Beck wasn't really listening though and neither was Cat.

Unfortunately that meant that they weren't really prepared to see Jade so vulnerable. She was as pale as the sheets she lay on with the exception of a few blooms of purple blemishing the skin of her arms. Beck knew there were probably more underneath the covers.

Mrs Valentine slipped outside with a doctor to discuss the extent of Jade's injuries. Meanwhile Cat ran over and hugged the sleeping Jade. Beck didn't want her to hurt Jade more, so gently pulled her away. He held Jade's hand in one of his own, stroking away the hair on her face with his other.

There were a few moments of silence before Cat sniffled loudly. She did it again a few seconds later and Beck sighed before turning to her and opening his arms. She gladly fell into them, wrapping her own bony arms around his waist and burying her head into his chest. He brushed through her hair soothingly and held her as she sobbed.

He felt the lump in his throat and the tightening of his chest but his tears just wouldn't come. They wouldn't fall and he hated it. "I want to cry Cat."

"I know." She watched him with big eyes as his face crumpled and his posture sagged. "It's ok Beck. It's ok." He shook his head bitterly.

"It's not ok Cat. My girlfriend is unconscious in a hospital bed and I can't cry. I should be feeling sad, I should be feeling heartbroken and I do but nothing's happening!" He pushed her away and paced the room, running shaky hands through his hair. Cat pouted sadly, she didn't like it when he yelled.

He noticed her curling into herself and felt guilt flash through him. She took the chair next to the bed and turned away from him. "Cat, I'm sorry." It sounded meaningless and empty.

He hated the pills. Without them he wouldn't be so numb and empty. He stared at the red head rocking on the chair and sighed miserably. Shaking his head, he pulled over the small plastic one and squatted next to her. He placed a hand on her back and rubbed it in soothing circles. Cat's lower lip trembled and she began to cry all over again. He climbed onto the chair next to her and held her close, watching her express the emotions he wish he could.

...

All three kids slept through their alarms on their phones. At 11.12am Cat woke up needing to pee and untangled herself from Beck to dash to the toilets. At 11.19am Cat raced back into the room to see a very disorientated Jade blinking slowly in the morning light. At 11.20am Beck woke to high shrieking and nearly falling off of the chair. The source of his disturbance was the bouncy red head practically smothering his now awake girlfriend.

A nurse banged open the door to see what all the chaos was. She smiled as she saw the three teens embracing but quickly set about finding the prescribed medication.

...

It was late afternoon when Mrs Valentine dropped Beck and Jade off at the RV. She refused to stay at home and told Mrs Valentine that her son made her super uncomfortable. She also told Beck that his RV made her feel safe, it was the whole reason she'd been there since Saturday night.

Mrs Valentine had begrudgingly let her go but on the condition that Beck take good care of her. Beck promised but it didn't go down too well with his parents.

When he and Jade were finally settled in for the night, she was snuggled under the duvet with her head resting against his shoulder, Beck finally broached the topic of her attack. "What happened?" Ok so maybe he could've been more subtle but he'd been dying to know ever since he found her.

She tensed next to him. "You don't have to say it all now. We can wait." He watched the rise and fall of her chest.

"Waiting..."

"Waiting..." She let out an irritable snort before huffing and burying her head into his side, pulling the covers up to her ears.

There was a hesitant pause in which Beck was about to give up, when he heard her low voice muffled by the bed sheets. "I can't hear you." She groaned loudly, making a smile tug at his lips, before surfacing from beneath and laying her head back on the pillow.

"Tell me that you love me."

Normally he would argue with her, make her say the magic word and whatnot but this time it felt different, like she needed to hear it.

"I love you." She nodded, tracing patterns on his chest lightly.

"You remember I was telling you about Vega's stupid prome."

"Prome?"

"Yeah apparently it couldn't be called a prom. See the stupid I have to deal with whilst you're in Canada?" He winced at the bite in her tone. "Anyway I hired this guy, he was supposed to come and ruin the prome. I didn't know, I didn't know what he was. I thought he was just one of those hecklers-for-hire kind of people." Her nails scraped lightly against his chest.

He pulled her closer, rubbing her back comfortingly. She was about to continue when she paused, "have you taken your pills tonight?" He frowned trying to think back.

"No I haven't, I'll take them in the morning though." She pursed her lips worriedly but he just kissed her forehead, motioning for her to continue.

"Stupid Vega convinced him to join in the party instead of ruining it. He was wearing a too small diaper and dancing awfully to his boom box. He wasn't supposed to take her side. Doesn't matter that I didn't pay him though, Vega rewarded him instead." She clenched her nails against his skin, drawing blood. Beck bit back a reaction, now wasn't the time for good pain especially with that dark scowl currently twisting her face.

"Anyway Vega goes to announce the prome King and queen results and she's obviously lying because she calls out my name. She publicly humiliated me and if that's not enough she went and named that stupid diaper oaf the King." Now she was starting to hurt and blood was welling in little beads. Beck had a feeling where this was going though and didn't mind the pain, it kept him distracted from wanting to rip someone's head off. Maybe he should have taken his pills.

"He picked me up and carried me off and, and, and," she broke off, burying her head in his side again. He raked his fingers through her hair gently, untangling the curls and holding her against him. She tried to control her voice but it was obvious tears were clogging her throat. "They just watched Beck. They watched as he took me and they didn't do anything. I could hear Tori singing whilst it happened," she started crying and Beck felt anger like never before rising inside of him.

He scooted down and turned to face her, cupping her jaw and kissing her gently on the forehead. "What's his name?" She shook her head.

"Beck don't. It's over, he's gone. And maybe, well maybe I deserved it. I did try to ruin Vega's night and she simply turned the tables." Beck couldn't believe what Jade was saying.

"Hey, hey look at me." Her eyes shone brightly as he forced her to maintain eye contact. "You did not deserve this. I want you to repeat that to me. Ok?" Jade took a deep breath but more tears came out. "Repeat it for me Jade. Say I, Jade."

"I, Jade."

"Did not deserve anything that happened to me. I am beautiful and talented and Tori Vega is nothing compared to me." Jade managed a weak smile as she repeated his words. Her smile sparked one of his own.

"Night babe." He knew she was back to normal when he heard her snort.

"Babe? Who do you think I am?"

...

7.14am saw Beck scrambling to get ready for school. His parents had insisted he go, his mom even promising to keep an eye on Jade whilst he was out. Jade herself reassured him she'd be fine, although she heavily threatened him not to let a word of this get out and to make it seem like everything was normal. He promised he'd try but it would be extremely difficult.

Jade had finally allowed him to avoid the gang if he wanted to but she made it clear that Cat had nothing to do with it. He could understand that, even if Cat had simply watched (which Jade assured him she hadn't since she was preparing for her song), she was too naive to understand the danger behind it.

In all the rush though he once again forgot to take his meds.

At school Cat bounced up to him eagerly. He couldn't help but smile at her. "How's Jadey?" He quickly shushed her. She frowned, upset.

"Jade doesn't want people to know she was in hospital. If you really can't keep it quiet just tell them she was ill ok? Can you do that Cat?" Cat nodded. When it came to Jade she was as protective as Beck, well maybe not as protective but pretty close.

She smiled all bubbly again and skipped out of the parking lot. Beck slung his book bag over his shoulder and followed her into the school. Unfortunately his locker was right between Tori's and Andre's. They were discussing Saturday night with a passion and Beck half considered just going to first period without his books. Before he could leave though, Tori spotted him.

He faked a smile but made no attempts to start a conversation. "Morning Beck." She was far too chipper. He grunted a vague response.

"Hey man." Andre patted him on the shoulder. "How was Canada? You missed Tori's epic prome though." Tori laughed in faux modesty, pretending to shrug off the compliment even though everyone could see her preening.

"It was fine I guess." He answered stiffly. "I missed Jade." The others shifted uncomfortably.

"She missed you too man. I mean, she was even more of a gank without you here." Beck almost punched his best friend of five years. Luckily he managed to restrain himself.

"Yeah?" He feigned interest, wanting nothing more than to leave before he did something stupid.

"Yeah. She totally tried to ruin prome. She put shrimp in my bra, she played a creepy video from one of her films, she even hired a dancing diaper dude." Tori turned to Beck expecting sympathy but all he gave was a cold look.

"A diaper dude?" There was the off chance they were actually useful. Tori jumped at the chance to continue slagging Jade.

"Oh yeah, he was huge and fat and an awful dancer. Doug the diaper guy or something. You should have seen Jade's face after he was voted prom king. It was so cool." Beck gave a tight smile before slamming his locker and walking away. He was finding it increasingly difficult to keep his temper.

This was not the Beck they knew. The Beck they knew was cool, suave, and a pacifist. But then, that wasn't really Beck, it was his pills.

He pulled his pear phone from his pocket and checked to see if he had any new messages. There was one from Jade complaining about his mother's cooking and there was one from his mother, complaining about Jade. He typed a response to the two of them before arriving at Sikowitz's class.

He was early which meant he got to choose a seat in the back corner. The guy who usually sat there moved to the other side of the class, exchanging weird looks with his friends. Beck ignored them and waited for Cat.

As soon as she came into the room, all bubbly and bright as always, he called her over to the seat next to his. She giggled happily. "Yay it's a corner party." She never failed to amuse him and right now that's what he needed.

As usual Sikowitz was late, allowing Tori, Robbie and Andre time to weasel Jade into their conversation. "Where is Jade? I haven't heard from her since Saturday."

"Relax guys, she's probably suffering from a wounded pride. She'll be back as soon as its blown over." Tori seemed so sure of her answer that Beck couldn't help but be alarmed at her naivety, even Cat would've been able to tell something was wrong.

Speaking of the red head, she was looking incredibly agitated as Rex made rude remarks about the "wicked witch of the west". She stuck out her bottom lip and grabbed Robbie's arm.

"Robbie, tell Rex to stop!"

"Relax little red, I ain't saying nothing nobody's already said." Rex cackled and Beck cracked his knuckles. Robbie gulped and stuffed Rex into his back, much to the puppet's annoyance.

"Beck you feeling ok? I know Rex can be annoying but intimidation's more Jade's thing."

Beck let out a controlled breath and felt Cat twitch nervously besides him before blurting out, "Beck's sad because Jade's ill!" She quickly covered her mouth with her hands, looking angry at herself for betraying Jade's trust. Beck was also irritated but let it go seeing as the girl couldn't help herself. At least she didn't mention the hospital.

Andre frowned in concern. "What kind of ill?" Beck shrugged nochalantly.

"Just dehydration, exhaustion. She's a little banged up." Whilst Andre and Robbie looked at least slightly worried, Tori just simply rolled her eyes.

"She's probably faking. You know this is exactly the kind of thing Jade would do."

"Oh yeah? And how well do you know Jade?" Beck snapped. Cat squeaked and held onto his jacket.

Tori was taken aback slightly. She suddenly got defensive. "Uh, hello, remember the fake black eye? You know, the stage fighting class where she framed me? And let's be real, she probably deserved whatever she's got." Beck rocketed to his feet abruptly, making his chair fall over onto the floor with a dull thump. He'd never raise his hand to a woman, he'd never even considered it until now.

"Woah man, just take it easy." Andre tried to placate him. "Tori didn't mean anything by it." Tori in question was watching him with wide eyes, as was the whole class. No one had ever seen Beck, Mr Cool, Oliver loose his temper.

"I've got to go." He grabbed his back and shook Cat off of him, storming from the room just as Sikowitz entered.

The silence that followed him was interrupted by a startled Sikowitz. "Ok, drive by acting challenge; you're all angry Australian crabs learning how to walk, GO!"

Everyone set to it but with little enthusiasm. Sikowitz watched them for a good few minutes before calling the exercise to a close. "Oh what's the use, you're all crabby coconuts today." He slumped on the stage and everyone returned to their seats.

It was quiet, everyone's eyes on the put out teacher before a small sob distracted them. Even Sikowitz raised his head.

Cat has dissolved into tears. The combination of Jade and Sikowitz was too much for the poor girl. "Aww Cat, don't cry." Tori tried patting the girl gently but it just caused more tears to run.

"W-why not? Jadey's hurt real bad and S-Sikowitz is disappointed and Beck he, he, he's angry and you don't care and Tori is being mean and, and, and I just want Jadey to get better." She buried her head in her knees and continued sobbing, her shoulders shaking violently.

"Why is Jade hurt Cat?" Sikowitz's question gave Cat pause. She looked up, her face stricken as she realised what she'd done.

"Phooey, Jade and Beck told me not to tell you that she was in hospital."

"You didn't tell us Jade was in hospital Cat!" Cat's eyes went even wider and her lower lip trembled as she became overwhelmed. Suddenly everyone was asking questions and she felt on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

"I'm under my bed. I'm under my bed." She clasped her hands over her ears and rocked back and forth. "I'm under my bed. I'm under my bed." She couldn't take it and ran screaming from the class, banging the door on the way past and making a beeline for the toilets.

...

Neither Beck nor Cat showed for lunch. Tori, Andre and Robbie claimed their usual table in the middle of the Asphalt café and hesitantly ignored the topic of their three missing classmates.

Meanwhile Beck was doing dreadfully. He hadn't taken his meds in over 48 hours and was slowly loosing control. He'd spent the entire school day curled up behind the dumpster shaking as the last of his pills wore off. When he'd had a go at Tori earlier something inside of him had snapped. Now all he could think about was her open hatred towards Jade. He couldn't seem to hold on to what Jade had done wrong, only ingrain everything Tori had done against them.

With Tori as the main object of his thoughts, he slowly began to regain control. He was angry, yes. He was craving the feeling of a blade in his palm, yes. But since the negative of everything was all he could focus on, without someone close enough to stable him, Tori was what he was channeling his anger through.

Cat was just emerging from the toilets when she felt her phone buzzing. It was Jade again, she was concerned about Beck. Cat stuck out her bottom lip as she remembered how angry Beck was. She knew about his 'special' problem and felt the smallest flutter of worry. He had been pretty mad at Tori.

Her phone vibrated again. It was an incoming call from Jade. She picked up and listened to the sound of her best friend's panicked voice. "Cat! Where's Beck? He hasn't been picking up and he forgot to take his pills. Cat please tell me you know where he is?!"

Cat's bottom lip quivered and she bit down on it to try and keep it steady. "He got mad at Tori. I'm sorry Jadey, I'm really sorry but I couldn't help it and, and Beck he, he was so angry." She heard the controlled breathing on the other side of the phone.

"Find him Cat. Please, find him before he does something stupid." Cat nodded and let the call end. She wouldn't fail Jade this time.

Beck looked awful. His once tan skin now a sickly greenish with big purple bags hanging under his eyes. His hair was unkempt and messy, sticking up from where he'd gripped it in frustration. He was tired. Tired and angry, so so angry. In his hand rested a wickedly sharp pair of Jade's scissors, ones he'd torn out of the front of her locker. The blades had nicked his hand and blood ran in little rivulets down his fingers, dripping onto the concert below him.

His eyes never left the table of his three former friends, all laughing and happy. The coil of hate in his stomach writhed with indignation and the scissors cut deeper into his palm. Memories of doctors and physiatrists floated to the surface of his mind, each one warning him and his family about the danger he posed, or rather the danger his anger posed.

Jade was like him. Except, her pills were designed to make her feel something other than emptiness. That's what made them so right for each other, they were perfect opposites and balanced the other out. Unfortunately without each other they became unstable, something Beck was quickly falling into.

The bell had gone but it was free period. Ms Carson was ill so no songwriting class for that day. It was the perfect opportunity for Beck, to make them feel the pain he feels. To make them feel sorry for condemning his Jade.

The last of the students hurried out until it was just them. The metal structure between Beck and them hid him perfectly, the brick wall at his back preventing anyone else from seeing. _I can do it _he thought. _Just walk right up and do it_. His palms were slippery with blood and sweat so he wiped them against his jeans, ignoring the slight tremor making his hands tremble. He pushed himself away from the wall, slipping out from behind the protective cover of the metal casing.

Cat stood by the parking lot. Beck's car was still here so he had to be somewhere. Something shiny flitted across her line of sight. She followed it like a cat and then giggled at the thought. Her laughter died when she saw the source. Sunlight bounced off the wickedly sharpened blades of a pair of silver scissors. Cat's heart leapt into her throat and before she knew what she was doing, she was throwing herself across the cafe and barrelling straight into him.

Beck felt the wind knocked out of him as something collided heavily with his chest. His first instinct was to gut the person with the blades and dump their body in the dumpster to collect later. He was glad he refrained as the bright red hair caused a little bit of clarity in his otherwise jumbled head. "Cat?" His voice was scratchy and low, his throat still sore from the unshed tears.

"Don't do it Beck. Jade wouldn't want it." The girlish voice was heavy with sadness. Beck suddenly snapped to his senses and dropped the scissors. They hit the tarmac with a clatter and broke what was left of his anger.

Pain flared to the forefront of his mind and he raised a bloody palm in front of his face. Cat stayed solid, her small arms wrapped fiercely around him. He lay a hand on her shoulder, his attention held by the blood trickling down his wrist. "W-what? Cat was I gonna, was I gonna...?" He trailed off, eyes wide. "Oh God, please no, Jade, she would've hated me."

For the first time in what felt like forever, Beck cried. As in, properly cried. The whole body wracking sobs, the streaming tears, the lightheadedness followed closely by a stress headache. He let it all out. Cat held him the whole time, her own tears falling. They broke down together.

Andre, Tori and Robbie had moved on, leaving the Asphalt cafe empty. There was no one there to witness them cry.

Beck finally managed to pull himself together, reaching down to scoop up the scissors. He let Cat hang onto him as he tossed them in the trash and grabbed their bags. He tucked the sniffling red head under his arm and suggested that they both just go home. Or, at least crash at his RV so they could see Jade.

Cat promised on the condition of snuggling and hot cocoa, and to Beck, nothing sounded more perfect.

...

10:30pm and Jade West was the only person awake in the RV. She looked down at the girl who'd managed to convince them to build a pillow fort. She and Beck had turned up looking like they'd been out partying for the full weekend after an overly emotional break up. Jade had been concerned and coaxed the truth out of them. Beck took his pills and Cat latched onto her for a full twenty minutes.

Jade had made them all hot chocolate whilst Beck and Cat built the pillow fort and set up the movies. Jade had lain on Beck's chest, his arm wrapped loosely around her waist, and Cat had curled into Jade's side. They all needed emotional support and now, several hours later, they were still in those same positions.

The usually mean girl couldn't help but break from her tough exterior as she settled in between the two people she most considered family. Of course they'd never speak of this again, after all, they all had images they had to keep.


End file.
